Previously, on Bound to Darkness:

"From the others! If they see the wings they will know!"

"Know what???"

"They'll..." He took in a shaky breath. "They'll know that I'm not an Admin anymore. They'll know I've been lying to them the entire fucking time we've been here!"

That only piqued my curiosity. "Why does a pair of wings say that-"

"Because those wings are a goddamn Admin mark, Grian! If anyone else sees that, they'll fucking realize that you're an Admin!"

Meanwhile...

The shock that rippled through Xisuma's body sent him reeling back from the redstone he had been working hard on. The current he had spent meticulous hours connecting to his invention was destroyed in his jerk, but he didn't care.

Something had happened in the coding of the Server. Something big.

Without much more thought, X closed his eyes. He retreated into the fabric of the Server, searching desperately for... the source.

Nothing seemed changed, at least on the surface. The swirls of ancient Craftian surrounded his form, guiding him deeper and deeper into the Server. The words grew dull in color and light, some inky substance covering certain player data in patches.

At the center of it all was a heart. A beating, inky heart, nearly entirely encompassing a player's data. X had seen the heart one other time within the coding. It had been smaller, beating slower and slower. Now, it was full-speed, a living being leeching off of one person's data.

X could fully see what was happening here. He backed away, needing to escape before the u!>v$ could sense him. He had to escape.

Something latched onto his leg

% was dragged towards the u!>v$, 4!$ 43@>|

43|9

~

Torn in half. Red staining red. Napkin, nose, hold it tight.

It wasn't him dying. Not yet.

The power flowed through him, transferred to safety. How could he be trusted?

The sun was on the horizon. His base stretched into the sky, giving him a perfect view of the sunrise.

His attention was drawn to the shopping district. He glimpsed someone falling, someone diving after them. He watched the second figure find his wings, saving the others life. Somehow he could sense who they were.

"Grian."

He knew what this meant. He turned away, launching into the opposite direction.

~

"You lied to me."

"Did I really?"

"You promised he would be safe! If I helped, you said he would be okay!"

"Can I not lie?"

"You promised!"

"Iskall... you're more naive than I thought you'd be."

"I trusted you!"

A sword was drawn.

"And that right there... that was your first mistake."

~

ConCorp stood on the porch of their country club, eyes towards the Spawn. They had felt the shift, the powers moving, growing, changing. An Admin vanishing, an Admin birthing.

"Cub?"

"Yes Scar?"

"You felt that too... right?"

"Why indeed I did."

The Convex shared a look, sharing the same glint in their eyes.

"I believe we should pay our good friend X a visit. See what's going on."

"Splendid idea, Scar."

The duo simultaneously pulled out their rockets, taking off into the air. The wind guided their journey, where they would be met with an unfortunate sight.

~

The knight in shining armor paused his building at the sound of a scream. The ice was hard to run over, but he did so regardless of the danger. The castle where the scream had come from was coated in fresh ice. At the base of the wall, a girl with dark hair kneeled over a fallen friend.

The knight raced towards her, sliding to a kneel near them. The injured man's blue frame was shattered, a dark spot of blood coming from his left side. Cuts stretched all over his face, showing a struggle.

"He's not respawning," The girl's pink cardigan was stained by the blood that wouldn't stop pouring. "Wels, he's not respawning!."

Wels shook his head, drawing out potions of healing and regeneration. "He's not dead yet. We'll help him, Stress. I promise."

"I just... he was here," She was completely shook, crying hard as the Knight tried to heal their injured friend. "I don't know what happened, but I-"

The wounds began to close up. Wels glanced up at Stress, a dark look in his eyes. "Come on. We should get him to safety."

~

Mumbo knew shit was hitting the fan when iron ore began appearing as he dug for a farm. The ore was soon replaced by rarer minerals, such as diamond and emeralds. Something had happened within the Server.

He watched the sun rise, a small tingle in the back of his mind. Without a second thought, he took off towards the shopping district to get to the bottom of this.

~

"Ren?"

"Doc..."

The man in the red shirt collapsed, arrow lodged deep into his back. The skeleton that had fired the shot was already a pile of bones, its last action sending the arrow deep into Ren's back.

"You'll respawn soon, friend." Doc was ready to gather up Ren's fallen items, his tone calm. "I'll bring your stuff to your base."

"Doc, I don't..." Ren groaned, coughing up blood, "I don't feel... so good..."

"What?"

Ren's eyes closed, his breathing stilled. Doc waited for the fateful moment when the others body would vanish, reappearing in his bed...

...but he didn't.

Ren wasn't respawning, why was he not RESPAWNING?

"Ren?" Doc shook the others shoulders, concern on his face. "You can respawn now... anytime now."

The body was getting cold, the blood pouring out slowing to a crawl.

"Ren?"

The cave was silent, other than the German's voice. The small tremor of fear, the break of hopelessness.

"Ren..."

~

"Impulse!"

The brunet looked up at the sky as his dear friend, clothes dirtied and torn, dove to the ground.

"Zed?" Impulse caught his friend as he stumbled, holding him as Zedaph coughed harshly.

"The Nether..." Zed's voice was hoarse, his feet heavy as Impulse helped him into a bed. "Overrun... I've never seen so many mobs."

"Hold onto that thought," Impulse ordered, handing Zed a bottle of water. "Drink, rest up. We can talk about it when you wake up."

Zed nodded a bit, leaning forward against Impulse. The blonde was unconscious in minutes, his overheated skin slowly cooling in the crisp morning air.

Impulse sighed, glancing out at the horizon. He knew the Nether was... dangerous, but Zed had never had issues with it before.

What was going on?

~

"Well, thanks for showing me around T," Jevin smiled at the older hermit, watched his eyes light up in delight.

"Oh, uh... anytime." TFC shrugged a bit, sheepishly turning his face to the ground. He rarely interacted with the other hermits, but when he did it was... nice.

"I should be heading out... I'm meeting up with X to discuss making me a Mod. I'll make sure to come by again sometime!"

TFC smiled as Jevin hopped out of his base, letting the door seal between them.

He had no idea what was coming.

~

"Holy shit-"

Cleo pitched forward on her ship, a sudden wave of nausea flooding her. Someone had- no, two someone's.

Without another thought, the redhead took off into the air, fighting her wave of power. She had to make sure it was wrong, that her feeling was off.

It was impossible for someone to die... right?

~

"Python?"

"Oh, h-hey False!" The hybrid rushed to hide what was in his hands behind his back, smiling sheepishly. The blonde had one hand on her sword as she stormed over to Python.

"What are you doing in my base?" She demanded, ready to draw on him at any moment.

"Ah!" Python's hands shot in the air, showing a block of diorite in one hand and a sign in the other. "Nothing!"

False smirked, leaning back and crossing her arms. With the threat of her murdering him gone, Python's fear somewhat evaporated into thin air.

"Uh-huh. It looks like-" She froze, a shock running down her spine. False turned to the ocean, looking out over the waves.

"Look, I know it looks like I was going to prank you, but it wasn't me! It's the... man in the..." He trailed off, following her gaze over the waves. "Uh... hello?"

"Ren..." False took off, jumping off the wall and into the air. She was off, searching for the source of her sudden emptiness.

"...False?"

~

...please don't murder me.

Before you all come running at me with axes, yes. I killed Ren, and X is... somewhere. I hope that within these words are enough context clues to make some assumptions.

Here's a hint: The one that attacked Iskall is the reason for X's disappearance, and for one other key event in this chapter. I don't wanna give it away, but the answer is there.

I hope you guys enjoy this chapter regardless of the pain I caused, because... the war is upon us.

~Parker